1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fluid-filled elastic mount which has improved and simplified construction and which can be readily assembled with improved efficiency, and to a method of producing such a fluid-filled elastic mount.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
An elastic mount is known as a vibration damping device interposed between two members of a vibration system, for flexibly connecting these two members. As one type of such elastic mount, there is known a so-called fluid-filled elastic mount as disclosed in laid-open Publication No. 60-104824 of unexamined Japanese Patent Application, which includes a first and a second rigid support member that are fixed to one and the other of the two members to be flexibly connected, and are spaced a suitable distance apart from each other in the direction in which the mount receives a vibrational load. The fluid-filled elastic mount further includes an elastic body interposed between the first support member and one of axially opposite openings of the second support member to elastically connect the first and second support members, and a flexible diaphragm adapted to fluid-tightly close the other axial opening of the second support member to thereby form a fluid chamber in the mount, which is filled with a suitable non-compressible fluid. In this fluid-filled elastic mount, the fluid chamber consists of a pressure-receiving chamber partially defined by the elastic body, and an equilibrium chamber partially defined by the flexible diaphragm, with these two chambers communicating with each other through an orifice passage. Thus, the elastic mount of this type provides an intended vibration damping effect based on the resonance of the fluid flowing through the orifice passage between the pressure-receiving and equilibrium chambers.
To assure the fluid tightness of the fluid chamber of the fluid-filled elastic mount of the above type, the flexible diaphragm needs to be attached to the corresponding opening of the second support member with a high degree of fluid-tight seal between the diaphragm and support member. Conventionally, the outer peripheral portion of the flexible diaphragm is fixed by caulking to the opening of the second support member, so that the opening of the support member may be fluid-tightly closed by the diaphragm.
To simplify and expedite the procedure for filling the fluid chamber with the fluid in the above elastic mount, it is recently proposed to produce the elastic mount by preparing an integral assembly of the first and second support members integrally connected by the elastic body, immersing the integral assembly in a mass of a fluid suited for use in the mount, and fixing the flexible diaphragm by caulking to the second support member in the fluid mass so as to form the fluid chamber filled with the fluid.
In producing the known elastic mount according to the above-described method, however, the second support member must be caulked against the flexible diaphragm within the fluid. This necessitates the cumbersome procedure and complicated installation which push up the cost of manufacturing the elastic mount.
Where the second support member is assembled with a protective rigid member for protecting the flexible diaphragm and/or a bracket adapted for attachment of the support member to one of the two members to be flexibly connected, for example, these protective member and bracket as well as the flexible diaphragm are fixed by caulking to one axial end portion of the second support member, as disclosed in the above-identified publication. In this case, however, the protective member and bracket must also be immersed in the mass of fluid for attachment to the second support member, making it necessary to clean these member and bracket after being taken out of the fluid. This results in more cumbersome and difficult procedure for assembling the elastic mount.
Generally, the bracket or other member must be properly positioned or oriented relative to the first support member when it is mounted on the second support member. Since the mounting of the bracket is effected in the fluid, taking account of its orientation, the mounting procedure suffers from considerably lowered efficiency, and is difficult to automate.